An MBMS mainly indicates that a network side may send multimedia service data with the same content at the same time to multiple terminals (also referred to as user equipment, UE), so that an air interface resource can be effectively saved, and a utilization ratio of the resource can be improved. A process of a control plane needs to be performed before MBMS service data in a long term evolution (LTE) communication system starts to be sent, so as to establish a bearer and allocate the air interface resource. In the process of the control plane, a data source triggers a control signaling along a gateway, a mobility management entity (MME), a multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), and a base station (e.g. E-UTRAN NodeB, abbreviated as eNB). Specifically, the data source sequentially informs the gateway about information such as characteristics of the service, requested resource, and expected areas to be sent to; the gateway assigns corresponding IP multicast addresses and transmits to the MME and the MCE; the MCE allocates an air interface transmission resource and informs each eNB; and the eNB joins a corresponding IP multicast group according to the IP multicast addresses assigned by the gateway, and according to the air interface resource information allocated by the MCE, updates a reserved sub-frame which is used for the MBMS transmission. After the process of the control plane ends, the MBMS service data which is of a user plane and is sent out by the data source flows through the gateway, and arrives at each eNB in the IP multicast group in a manner of IP multicast, and then is transmitted to the terminals by the eNB through the air interface.
In the LTE, the sending of the MBMS service data follows a transmission mode of multimedia broadcast multicast service single frequency network (MBSFN), that is to say, multiple eNBs in a certain area need to send the completely same MBMS service data in the same sub-frame, in this way, after the MBMS service data sent by the eNBs arrived at the terminals, the terminals cannot distinguish which eNB sends the signal, and the signals sent by the multiple eNBs may be superimposed and enhanced at the UE, thereby reducing a packet error ratio. The MCE suspends some services according to actual control needs of communication, that is, interrupts sending the MBMS service data of these services, so as to achieve the purpose of saving the air interface resource and reducing the power consumption of the eNB. The service suspension is temporary; and when the conditions needed for implementing the communication control are not satisfied, the sending of the MBMS service data of the suspended services needs to be resumed. The service suspension and the service resumption are performed in a range of a multimedia broadcast multicast service single frequency network area (MBSFA), and generally, one service may be transmitted in multiple MBSFA ranges. Therefore, the data source generally continues sending the MBMS service data of this service for the usage of an MBSFA whose service is not suspended.
The control signaling of the MBMS service data, that is, a multicast control channel (MCCH) message, is sent cyclically, and the MCE can only modify the MCCH message at some predefined time points, where a time interval between two time points when the MCCH message may be modified is referred to as an MCCH modification period, and each eNB in the same MBSFA range uses the same MCCH modification period number. When the MCE determines that a certain service needs to be suspended or resumed in a certain MBSFA range, the MCE firstly informs all the eNBs in the MBSFA range, and updates the MCCH message from a certain MCCH modification period, thereby ensuring that all the eNBs in the same MBSFA range synchronously update the MCCH message. However, the prior art does not provide a corresponding solution for how the eNB in the same MBSFA range realizes suspension or resumption control of the MBMS service data.